overturn roe v. wade. planned parenthood, we're going to get rid of that. i'll cut off funding to planned parenthood. anncr: no matter what mitt romney's ads say. we know what he'll do. president obama: i'm barack obama and... i approve this message. election day six days away. sandy's aftermath and president obama focus as he spend the day touring the devastation the monster storm left behind as romney returns to the campaign trail targeting the swing state of florida. today a special edition of the news edge you decide 2012 starts now. thank you for joining us tonight. the president healed news conference after getting a close up look at the damage done by

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sandy meanwhile mitt romney on the campaign trail today. here is more on both. it wasn't quite back to normal on the campaign trail but the president did make a trip up to new jersey though he refrained from any outright campaigning. mitt romney meanwhile rallied with his supporters in florida where the polls have the race in a dead heat. >> we begin in atlantic city, new jersey, tonight. president obama touring damage from hurricane sandy with republican governor chris christie. president promising the administration's support in rebuilding the jersey shore. >> for those like people i had a chance to meet on this block and throughout new jersey, throughout the region whose lives were up ended, my second message is we are here for you. and we will not forget. we will follow up to make sure you will get the help you need. >> down to florida now, governor mitt romney in coral gables

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with senator marco rubio. romney did not mention the president by name but said the country needs to change direction. >> we face some challenges and as a result of that, it is my view we should not continue along the same path but it is time to take a new path. bold aggressive change. >> staying in florida now, vice-president joe biden back on the campaign trail telling supporters he was proud of leaders of different parties in the northeast pulling together. >> we are all better off when everybody is in the deal together. we are all working together. so hopefully when this god all of storm and its aftermath is dealt, hopefully when this election is over, we will do what we do as americans, work together along party lines. l eliminates. >> finally head to green bay, wisconsin, where congressman paul ryan, the vice- presidential candidate rallied with his supporters inside his home state. >> really comes down at the end

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of the day whether or not we will pass on the american idea to our kids and our grand kids. that's what this is about. >> today on the trail october 31, 2012. . our political analyst is now here. let's get to this "washington post" abc news tracking poll today about president obama's response to hurricane sandy. it says that nearly eight in ten likely voters say the president did an excellent or a good job in dealing with hurricane sandy. how does this factor into the election? >> definitely helps the president. the president is acting presidential. the poll likes his attitude and the actions that he has taken. he has suspended campaigning. he hasn't been on the campaign trail since saturday or sunday. and they think that he is showing the right stance and the right posture and i think it's quite frankly helped his campaign. >> we talked about ohio as battle ground state now and,

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you know, early voting has started in some places in this country. but there is a possibility that we might not know -- the whole count in ohio that could ultimately decide this election. explain that a little bit. >> for the first time the secretary of state which is the elections official in ohio has sent to every registered voter, 7 million in ohio, telling them they can apply for absentee ballots. this has never been done before. last friday 101.6 million of the 7 million people requested it. only 600,000 actual ballots camism let's say tom fitzgerald requests an absentee ballot and then decide i'm not going to send in the absentee ballot. i'm going to show up and vote on election day. well, tom fitzgerald, they will have your name that you requested an absentee ballot and you will have to cast something called a provisional ballot and the problem with that is those

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provisional ballots and there will be hundreds of thousands of them will not be counted that day. in fact, the law says they can't be counted until ten days after election day. so you have hundreds of thousands of votes that will not be counted until november 17 in ohio and if it's close, there is no way we will know what actually happened. >> if i wind up voting in ohio we have other problems tonight besides that. i want to have you look at the political theater that we saw today. you have the republican key noter of the convention in august along with the democratic president that he lambbusted in tampa. what did you make of that scene tonight and how does this factor into this discussion that we had about the tone of rhetoric between politicians on both sides of the aisles. >> it's a far different tone. i mean, i call them the odd

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couple. you can't but chris christie, the republican governor, was really responsible in many ways for mitt romney being nominated as you said was the key note speaker. right after the first debate said this guy is his candidate, mittroomy in will turn the -- mitt romney will turn the campaign upside down. but chris christie also wants to advance chris christie. new jersey is a lot for obama -- is a lock for obama. nobody thinks it's going to vote for mitt romney and nowhere in this conversation he said the president has been outstanding. i talked to him three times. he is gushing over his admiration and i'm sure mitt romney would do the same thing. mitt romney is nowhere near mentioned in this whole thing. and so it allows the president to stand next to a republican and evoke bipartisanship and saying that the president rises to the occasion and chris christie looks like a cheerleader. >> cover that state house in trenton years ago. i can tell you if you a republican you better get along

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with democrats because there are plenty of them. fox 5 political analyst, we thank you. the president gets back into it full swing tomorrow and heads back on the campaign trails for the remainder of the campaign. >> two and a half hours where the polls close at early voting. here is bowie public library. how is it going? >> people are motivated to vote. the line has been long outside this building since the library opened its doors at 8:00 this morning. you see over both my shoulders there are people standing in line, hundreds of them waiting for their chance. the hours for early voting were extended two hours after we lost two days to hurricane sandy and it looks as if people are just making up for it. election officials say it's like this at all five of the prince george's county voting centers.

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early voting centers. here at bowie likery and the curry sports and learning center. the upper marlboro community center and the community center at college park. lines are typically long during presidential elections. what voters are unaccustomed to this year is voting before election day. now we asked people casting their votes today what pushed them to the polls? >> primarily the presidential election. we have many things on the ballot here in maryland and in prince george's county. that's the main thing for me. >> i didn't expect this many people. i think everybody is thinking like me. go ahead and get it over with. >> i wasn't really expecting this because my first election was in 2008 and that's the first time i voted and lines were really long this is almost comparable to that. >> we ask the voters to be please be patient. we will service everyone as soon as possible. if they are voters to have disabilities or may not be able

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to stand in this line or may not want to deal with the crowds, you can also go to our office and vote biably ballot if you would like to. reporter: now another reason for the long lines could be the controversial issues on the ballot in maryland. gambling, same-sex marriage and the dream act immigration questions. could be bringing the people to the poll. again, polls close at 9:00 tonight and the election officials are telling us if you are in the line they will accommodate you. back into you. >> a little chilly out there but it may be drier than on election day. we were monitoring the weather situation leading up to that day including what may come after sandy. sue is joining us in the weather sender. >> the next couple of days for those doing early vote nothing big problems. definitely chilly. we will take you forward with our future cast to get an idea what's going on. while sandy is not a big troublemaker right now, there

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is going to be a couple of showers up and over the northeast. as we head into friday, pretty dry from coast-to-coast. no big deal. let us talk about election day. we will give you an idea what we are seeing as we look across the rest of the country. you can see even into the weekend it's settled here. for the west coast maybe this is in the pacific northwest most of the country will be dry. on monday into tuesday there is going to be a system is that bringing some showers across much of the east. there will be a little bit of snow for parts of minneapolis. this is on tuesday. it will be chilly in the mid west. here is one thing we will watch. we think there are showers around here as i mentioned on monday that might linger into tuesday and that big red "l" you see our computer models are suggesting that will intensify once it's off the east coast. but i would just throw it out that is something that we might have to continue to watch. our models are still suggesting that the atmosphere is a bit blocked up. right now so far so good. i will say early morning shower

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possible for east coast including the hard hit northeast but right now we are thinking that our models are implying this area of low pressure will intensify after it clears the east coast. that's one little ripple that's a bit different than yesterday. so let's say we check back here tomorrow and keep an eye on that for you. still ahead, did you get a mysterious president obama text message. new information on how it happened and who could be behind the mass messages. young voters crucial to swing states. will they turn out like they did four years ago? the president of rock the vote joins us live. watching the news edge you decide 2012. be right back. right back. anncr: their ads, hopelessly untrue.

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a west virginia casino launchihg the biggest ad barrage ever. don't be misled. the washington post says question seven is just... common sense. it'll create 4,000 permanent jobs. and stop maryland from losing millions to other states... every year. that's why business, labor, and teachers all support... question seven. and so does the washington post. vote for question seven. it's just common sense.

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steshz got one, anti-president obama text message. people were complaining. how did they get your information? who is behind it all? tom fitzgerald is here with more. >> i actually got one of these last night as well. just sitting around and watching television and then it goes off and we put a couple of them here and threw them up on the ipad. one is obama carries $700 billion gamble where medicare recipients take the risk stop obama. more on medicare and one on same-sex marriage is another. instant message here about medicare. basically these went out all over the washington, d.c.,

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area. joining us now,. from the "washington post." mike and you received one of these last night yourself and you have been working on it today at the post what did you find out? >> you know, it wasn't a simple matter trying to figure out where it came frsm looked up the e-mail addresses these domain names they were not registered but we found a if you went to the godaddy.com site, a popular internet registration service and plug these in all those names circled back to one company out in fairfax county, company called cc advertising. they have some ties to republican party organizations. republican candidates and also they have done work for private businesses. we tried to get in touch with them today to get explanations on this and we haven't been successful. >> in the age where folks are used to get theetion robo calls at home. you get something on your cell phone it feels like a violation of your personal privacy. is there anything that they have violated in doing this? any loopholes they have gotten?

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>> doesn't appear they violated any laws. there are pretty strict federal laws against sending unsolicited text messages and unsolicited e-mails but they found a loophole that goes there is an exception for the anti-spam federal law that if you are doing political advertising or doing free speech-type activities you can send unsolicited e-mails. they sent these as e-mails. these weren't somebody sitting at their phone and hitting send, send. they did a mass e-mail that took advantage of a feature on a lot of phones where you can send an e-mail and have it show up as a text. technically that's were e-mail. >> and people might have whenever i call somebody they don't know i'm calling how did you get my number. dishow they get these numbers. >> unclear. i haven't had calls returned today. but pretty simple. they can just it's cheap enough to send these e-mails. you can do it for fracs of the penny per message that they can

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just pick a range of numbers and just blast them out and it's even half of them gets to where get to somebody's eyeballs at the end of the day it's worth it to them. >> we appreciate you coming in. >> brian we are in a brave new world. you might be facebooking and realtime chat conversing with the candidates before too long the way things are going. >> unsettling for sure. young voters town out like four years ago? what are their concerns. the president of rock the vote joins us live next. xt.

when we think no one is looking. is what we do... mitt romney: believe that they are victims. anncr: mitt romney thought no one was looking when... he attacked forty-seven percent of americans. his companies shipped jobs overseas. his plan cuts millionaires' taxes, but raises yours. he'll voucherize medicare... and make catastrophic cuts to education. so remember what romney said... and what his plan would do. president obama: i'm barack obama and... i approve this message.

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young voters, primary focus this presidential election especially in the key battle ground states. both candidates courting the millenniums. he had strong sporm and then four years later will that continue? let's bring in heather smith. a nonpartisan group that focuses on bringing young people out to the polls. >> 7 million people turned 18 in the u.s. since the last presidential election. will majority head to the polls? >> that's a big question. enough of them be contacted and asked to show up and get the information they need to ultimately go to the polls on tuesday. i know at least the rock of vote that's what we are working so hard to make sure they know where to go and what to bring and making sure the process itself doesn't get in the way and then hoping those candidates reach out and ask for that vote. >> interesting time for young

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voters. you know if they voted for president obama for the first time when they were voting for the first time for four years they seemed a very different work force. do you see political case changing. i imagine and don't know but from your registered voters it probably skews democrat versus republican. >> it does. we just did some polling on young people and where they are at right now. it looks like the president maintains his advantage among young people so among registered and likely voters it's about two to one for the president. but the real question is those young republicans who have come up and have been engaged in the primary campaign who are supporting romney, they could turn out just as easily as those who are supporting the president. and whether or not they turn out and which of the young voters turn out could make a critical difference in who becomes the next president. >> is the economy the biggest concern of these young voters? >> yeah, it still is. the top concern is jobs for the young people and the economy. but when we dig in it's really

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finding a job, especially those who aren't going on to college, making sure they can find jobs. even those who do go to college they are graduating on average with $25,000 worts of debt and then struggling to find a job on top of that. the economic situation for these young people is real. and it certainly they are look most closely at when deciding who should be the next president. >> what are the challenges to get the young voters out to the poll. >> first is the process itself. young people are starting to pay attention. can't tell you how many calls we were getting in our office saying i'm preparing to go vote. i'm going early on election day, where do i register. in most states i have to tell those voters it's just too late. we are really pushing same day voter registration states and election registration and making sure people get registered and cast a ballot. second thing is just intimidation of doing something for the first time. where do i go? what dhawz ballot look like? and where do i fine the

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information. we tried compile all of that at rock the vote.com to help people make up their own minds and make informed decisions. >> it was a history making time four years ago in voting for the first african-american president this election doesn't have that same mystique. will that be a challenge in bringing some enthusiasm? enthusiasm gap four years later? >> i think the story four years ago was historic one and people wanted to be a part of this moment in history and this moment in time. and the campaign that had been going on for two years almost if you include the primaries plus the general. and they have been engaged in it. they are a part of making that history happen and possible. this year it feels more serious and it feels like it's more about the policies and the positions and the issues that are at stake. it doesn't have the glitter of a historic moment. but it certainly doesn't feel any less important. but maybe just a little more

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real. >> president of rock the vote. thank you for coming in. when we get back, meet one little girl who is more than happy when the election is over. we will be right back. [ earnest ] out o of the blue one day, we were told to build a 30-foot stage. gathered the guys and we built that 30-foot stage, not knowing what it was for. just days later, all three shifts were told to assemble in the warehouse. a group of people walked out on that stage and told us that the plant is now closed

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and all of you are fired... i looked both ways, i looked at the crowd, and...we all just lost our jobs. we don't have an income. mitt romney made over 100 million dollars by shutting down our plant and devastated our lives. turns out that when we built that stage, it was like building my own coffin, and it just made me sick. [ male announcer ] priorities usa action is responsible for the content of this advertising. prand you're seeing that rightto quit in amnow.a...ction over five million new jobs. exports up forty one percent. home values... rising. our auto industry... back. and our heroes are coming home. we're not there yet, but we've made real progress and the... last thing we should do is turn back now. here's my plan for the next four years:

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making education and training a national priority; building on our manufacturing boom; boosting american-made energy; reducing the deficits responsibly by cutting where... we can, and asking the wealthy to pay a little more. and ending the war in afghanistan, so we can... do some nation-building here at home. that's the right path. so read my plan, compare it to governor romney's... and decide which is better for you. it's an honor to be your president... and i'm asking for your vote... so together, we can keep moving america forward. i'm barack obama and i approve this message. you are sick of all of the political ads and talk about the election. apparently that extends to vow small children. tom is back with one little girl who can't take it any more. >> here is the situation. elizabeth evans driving in her car outside of denver, colorado,

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her four-year-old daughter abigail is in the car. elizabeth is reporting to a report about the prex election and she notices the four-year-old getting upset so what does she do. what any good pirnt does these -- parent does these day. she pulls out an iphone and recorded her daughter. >> i'm tired -- i'm tired of barack obama and mitt romney. >> that's why you are crying? it will be over soon, be ay okay? dz the election will be over soon. >> okay. >> orc. >> breaks your heart. national public radio issued an apology to aby today saying they didn't mean to make her cry and you can see her right here. mother tweeted a picture later showing abby is happy and laughingful moral of the story is whether you take your kid to the dentist after novocain or listening to a report of the presidential election never a

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good idea to record your kids on video at their worst. >> or move out of a swing state. you know what state? >> they live in colorado. interesting enough i can tell you from my in-laws if you want to see people crying over when this election is going to be over go to the buckeye state. those people have just had it out there with the constant robo calls and telephone calls and the ads. constantly. a lot of tears to be shed theres in go to virginia to get all of that. thank you for joining us on this special edition of news you decide on 2012. tmz on tv coming up next. anncr: it's said that character is what we do...

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when we think no one is looking. mitt romney: believe that they are victims. anncr: mitt romney thought no one was looking when... he attacked forty-seven percent of americans. his companies shipped jobs overseas.